Gone
by BMShipper
Summary: John gets a call in the middle of the night. From a VERY upset Rudy. Dorian has disappeared. So where is he?


**A/N: **So... I kind of did it again... Because I just couldn't get this idea out of my head after episode 7... I'm not sure I'm really getting the characters "right" - and AGAIN I don't have a beta-reader because I haven't found someone who was willing or able to do that for me, but I still hope it's more or less okay =)

Comments - as always - are very nice and inspire me to do some more! =)

**Gone**

John was just on his way from his living room into his bed room when his phone started buzzing in his jeans pocket. A short glance at his watch told him that it was almost midnight and he seriously hoped it wasn't Sandra telling him he had to get back to work. He was on call tonight and had to be prepared for something like that, but he was really exhausted.

Hell, he and Dorian had just closed a case about a missing teenager that had run off and they had worked overtime to get the girl back home. In fact, he had arrived at his apartment not even an hour ago and all he wanted to do right now was drop onto his bed face first and sleep forever.

No such luck obviously since his phone didn't stop ringing. John was more than surprised, though, when he read Rudy's name on the display and not the Captain's.

For a moment there he even considered rejecting the call but he knew Rudy wouldn't contact him if it wasn't important.

Maybe something was wrong with Dorian. They had only been living together for a couple of days now and John definitely felt a lot more comfortable knowing Dorian was with Rudy than thinking he had to be down _there_, in a place he didn't want to be and didn't feel welcome.

"Kennex," John finally answered the phone, hearing Rudy breath hectically on the other end of the line.

"John, I'm so relieved to hear your voice. You gotta help me."

Rudy sounded very upset, desperate even, and it made John feel uneasy right away.

"What's wrong?" he demanded, walking over into the kitchen to lean against the counter.

"It's Dorian," Rudy blurted out and despite his exhaustion – in this moment Rudy had his full attention.

"Where is he? What happened?"

John knew he probably sounded a lot more worried than he intended but somehow his brain produced horror scenarios in his head that weren't exactly comforting. Scenarios of guys with guns breaking into Rudy's laboratory and kidnapping Dorian, or worse; blowing his head off and destroying everything he was.

"That's the problem, I don't know," Rudy replied. "Last I saw of him he was recharging while I was telling him a story to entertain him and when I wanted to check the status he was gone. Vanished. He just disappeared, John." Rudy's voice sounded like he was about to have a nervous breakdown any second and John knew he had to avoid that under any circumstances.

"Okay, calm down," he tried to interject. "Have you checked the bathroom? Or maybe he just went for a walk…"

"Without telling me?" Rudy lamented. "Maybe someone stole him."

That was exactly what John feared as well but then again, Dorian wasn't a helpless kid, he was a synthetic, an android, and a damn strong one for that matter. John just had to convince himself that Dorian was okay. He couldn't let his feelings get ahead of him right now. Someone needed to stay rational. Someone needed to see his through and keep a clear head.

"Did you see anyone down there? Did you hear anything that would indicate that someone broke into your lab?" John asked calmly.

"No, but…" Rudy started but John cut him off right away.

"No buts. I'm sure there's a simple explanation for Dorian's disappearance and we'll find it."

Rudy sighed exasperated. "Such as?"

The moment John opened his mouth to reply his doorbell rang, making him twitch in surprise. At the same time realisation started to hit him. There was only one person – or rather one very annoying android – who was bold enough to show up at his doorstep in the middle of the night. And not for the first time either.

"Listen, Rudy, someone's at my door, and if I'm right it might be Dorian, give me a sec."

Putting the phone down on the counter John walked over to his door and opened it. He wasn't really surprised to – in fact – see Dorian standing in front of him with a sly smile.

"Good evening, John," he greeted him and tried to walk in, but John blocked his way.

"Good evening?" he asked, feeling a slight anger bubbling up within him, even though at the same time he was more than a little relieved that Dorian was okay. That he was standing there his typical self instead of laying dead somewhere in the gutter. Or whatever a kaput android was called.

"Have you any idea what you just did?" John huffed. "Rudy just called me on the verge of losing it completely because he thought you could have been stolen."

"Come on," Dorian snorted. "Who would steal _me_? They would bring me back voluntarily after ten minuets."

"This is not funny," John clarified but finally took a step aside. "Come in. I wanna know exactly what happened, and then we'll decide what happens next."

"I'm not going back there, John!" Dorian stated walking in and closing the door.

John rolled his eyes in annoyance. "We'll talk about this right away, I just need to give Rudy the all-clear before he does anything really stupid."

Grabbing the phone from the counter John pressed it against his ear.

"He's here, Rudy! Dorian is here, so you can calm down now. He's perfectly fine."

"But why is he with you?" Rudy wanted to know and he sounded quite confused. The same way of confusion John felt as well.

"I have no idea, but I'll find out. He'll stay with me for the night and I'll bring him back tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah; sure. I know he's safe with you," Rudy gave back. "See you tomorrow, John."

"See you," John said and then he ended the call. Turning around he jumped to the side when he noticed that Dorian was standing right behind him, not even an arm length away. "Stop doing that! Have you ever heard of something called personal space?" he mumbled. He was really not in a good mood right now, and he was tired to no end, and to top it all he had to deal with his robot partner in the middle of the night.

"Sorry," Dorian replied, taking a step back immediately. John knew he wasn't really sorry, though.

"Okay… what happened? Why are you here?" John asked. "I thought you liked Rudy." He walked over to his fridge and took out a bottle of beer. "I would offer you one as well, but you don't drink, so…"

"It's okay," Dorian replied, waving dismissively, looking John directly in the eye. "Listen, John. I don't think I can do that."

"Do what?" John asked, tilting his head before taking a sip of his beer.

"Live with Rudy," Dorian blurted out. "He's a nice guy and all, but he drives me up the wall. If I didn't know better I would say _he's_ the synthetic and not me, because he can talk for hours without even breathing and the stories he tells… John, please, I can't take this." With every word he had moved closer to John again until there was barely an inch of space between them. "Please. You gotta save me."

Raising an eyebrow John looked at him. "You sound like Rudy is some kind of psychopath that wants to kill you or something like that."

"If killing with words would be possible, he would have already killed me," Dorian moaned.

"Still, that doesn't mean you can just take off without telling him anything about it. He was worried sick," John complained, but didn't get any further, because Dorian had already started talking again.

"We gotta find another solution, or I'm the one that's gonna lose it."

Grabbing John's shirt Dorian looked into his eyes and for a moment there John was seriously captured by the striking deep blue. Trying to remain as calm as possible was easier said than done, but still he managed to turn his gaze away from Dorian's face.

"I'm sure he's not that bad," he tried, but Dorian interjected immediately.

"Believe me, he_ is_ that bad. Can't you consider taking me in? This apartment is huge and you have more than enough space. I'll even help you clear out your trophy room."

"Wait, what?" John shook his head heavily. "No! Absolutely not! We talked about that, Dorian. I'm not gonna give you my trophy room. This is not up for discussion."

"If I go on a shooting spree killing innocent people at some point because I can't take it any longer that's up to you," Dorian warned, and something in his voice made John think this was really a possibility. And that wasn't a very comforting thought. Dorian sounded really desperate and even though everything inside of John literally screamed not to give in, he could already feel his resistance fade.

Letting out an exasperated sigh he grabbed Dorian's wrist and pulled it away from his shirt. "Okay, fine. We'll talk about that first thing tomorrow morning, okay? I'm tired and I really wanna go to bed now."

"So… where do I get to sleep?" Dorian asked cheerfully.

"You can have the couch in my living room," John decided. "And don't you dare to make a sound until at least tomorrow 7 a.m. or I'm gonna kill you. You have seen that I'm capable of doing that to other synthetics."

"Yeah, but I'm not an MX," Dorian smirked, and he looked really confident.

John didn't comment on that, because as much as he hated to admit it: Dorian had a point here.

Walking out of the kitchen he pointed to the living room. "You can stay in there."

Waiting for Dorian to walk in John was surprised to see the synthetic move towards his bed room instead. "But you have such a big, cosy bed. Can't I just sleep in there with you?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" John snarled. "Really, don't push it, Dorian, or I'm gonna send you back to the MX's first thing tomorrow. Couch! Or you're not staying here at all."

"I'm not a dog," Dorian murmured, causing John to send him a glare which made him give in.

Okay, fine!" Dorian sighed. "But you gotta admit this is nice."

"What is?" John asked confused.

"This… us spending even more time together," Dorian smiled. "I like that."

"Well, I don't," John replied.

It wasn't a complete lie, but it also wasn't the total truth. He actually liked spending time with Dorian, especially when they were sitting at the bar after work and he was having a couple of drinks while Dorian was just watching him, listening to the stories he told him. It had been forever since he had felt this kind of connection to another person, and Dorian wasn't even a real person, he was a synthetic, even though John really tended to forget about that most of the time. They could almost become friends, but John wasn't sure that would work out if they now spent even more time together. Dorian already drove him crazy day by day at work, and if he started to invade his private life now, maybe _John_ would be the one to lose it.

"Liar," Dorian pulled him out of his thoughts. "You like me. We've been over this already."

"No, _we_ haven't. _You_ have been over this, but I never admitted to it," John said.

Dorian grinned happily. "Yeah because you would never admit to something like that. But I know I'm right and you know it too."

John waved dismissively. "Whatever. I really need to go to bed right now, or you're gonna have a really grumpy partner tomorrow."

"And that's something new how?" Dorian joked, causing John to glare at him again.

"Alright, I got it. Have a good night, John. And thanks for letting me stay here."

And with that Dorian turned around walking into the living room, making John sigh in relief. At least for tonight he was done dealing with him, but he was quite sure that this conversation wasn't over yet and that Dorian would fight tooth and nails to stay with him. John was not very looking forward to continuing this discussion, though, but maybe they would find another solution. He would definitely think about it. Tomorrow.


End file.
